Life, food, events, and community in Albuquerque, NM
What can Solar really do?
As the President is now advocating for offshore drilling, I am wondering about solar power. Can someone explain in terms a novice can understand if it is possible for solar to be used and used well in terms of the nation's energy needs? Could the New Mexico sun power the state? If something like the arena/event center was built, could it be all solar? I've been hearing about solar since grade school and that was a long time ago. The thing I always hear now is that it is expensive to put into place. Any more expensive than drilling offshore. Could New Mexico profit from selling excess energy from solar to other states? And I know oil biz is against alternative energy, but is that what has really held solar back? So many questions. Have any answers?
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Laura on -
A few years back, I wrote a story about renewable energy issues in Abq. I was shocked at what I learned during an interview with Eric Griego, who was then a city councilor. Check out this excerpt from the story:
New Mexico historically played an important role in the solar industry, says Griego. During the energy crisis of the '70s, the national labs devoted substantial time and money to developing solar technology. (Some might remember President Carter's call in 1979: Rather than encouraging people to shop, travel in airplanes and buy SUVs, the president in those days called for people to pull on a sweater and turn down the thermostat, and he declared that by 2000, Americans would get 20 percent of their energy from the sun.) “A lot of people don't know that New Mexico was leading the world in solar development,” says Griego. Just as the renewable industry was kicking into high-gear, Reagan landed in the White House, and federal spending to the labs shifted away from solar and back toward nuclear weapons.
Here are a few resources for you to check out, by the way: The New Mexico Solar Energy Association and also tons of information from the state about the Solar Tax Credit.
-
Permalink Reply by orange you glad on -
Thanks for this. I remember reading that when Reagan went in the White House he removed solar panels that Carter had installed.
-
Permalink Reply by Brendan on -
My next door neighbor has solar panels on his roof and electric heaters in his home. He drives an electric vehicle that charges via extension cord (in town travel only). The meter rolls forward at night and backward during the day- his yearly energy bill is about $0.
By state law, anybody can put an inverter rated up to 10kw in their home and PNM is required to buy any excess power you produce. Can you imagine if every one of the ticky-tack houses that went up in the last 5 years had been built with solar/wind generation as a matter of course? The discounts builders are offering on these houses now is more than the cost of complete solar-generation systems. It's tragic.
-
Permalink Reply by Albuquerque Commentator on -
Just a quick side note. I have been looking into solar systems for electric generation of a number for existing condo units. Readers should be aware that there is a sunset date for PNM purchasing excess electricity under the current regulations.
Also the republicans recently blocked extention of the tax credits for solar.
Washington Fails Renewable Energy, Again - Forbes
Unless these two things change the payback scenerio may change drastically.
-
Permalink Reply by Pete Zaitcev on -
The biggest problem with the scattered electricity producers is that producers and consumers must be balanced on the grid very precisely at all times. This is a bigger issue for wind than solar, but solar varies too. Essentially, every time a wind farm is producing anything, a coal plant must be idling on standby ready to pick up any sudden slack. The law of averages helps very little here. I'm pretty certain anyone who works with the actual electricity hates this ridiculous pandering of buying from residential producers. The concept deserves a place at the stuffwhitepeoplelike.com.
If citizens stopped this selling-back idiocy and just used solar to charge batteries, it would be a paradize.
Also, if we talk about industrial solar, I'm quite enthusiastic. Every square meter receives 1.3kW when Sun is in zenith, and Albuquerque is 35 degrees North. Surely we ought to be able to get 200W in the winter and about 500W in the summer (with sufficiently efficient PV elements).
Unfortunately, thin film cells are not there... Anybody who's bought cells at Fry's knows that. The rule of thumb is, you can charge your cellphone from a portable cell, but not much else. And the high-efficiency crystaline cells cost a fortune.
-
Permalink Reply by Pat OConnell on -
Pete, wind (or solar) power doesn't put coal plants on standby, it puts natural gas powered peaking plants (like the one in Algodones) on standby.
-
Permalink Reply by Juan on -
I know Santa Fe is also about to implement a program called Solar Santa Fe in which citizens can borrow money from the city (through very low interest loans from city bonds) so they can install solar power systems on their houses. The money they save on electricity would go towards paying off their loan. This is a good way to help low-income people have access to solar power in their homes. Many solar companies are moving into town and the can help provide many local jobs once they're fully up and running. I know SIPI has many of it's buildings already running off solar power, including their large cafeteria which produces enough power to power the cafeteria as well as a couple other campus buildings. Solar is definitely growing and great alternative to oil here in NM. We just need policies that support it, help decrease the cost for consumers, and more money to research making the technology more efficient.
-
Permalink Reply by Chris K. on -
I just posted a blog about a new Electric Car that I think would be perfect for Albuquerque. Hopefully one day I will have solar powered and an electric car. That would be a fantastic use of renewable energy, don't ya think?
-
Permalink Reply by rf on -
Hmm, I have to disagree with you on this.
I know several people who use solar exclusively to power their homes here in New Mexico and even know one guy who's doing it out in a heavily treed forest in California. Many of these people are techies and while they may have had to make some sacrifices (for example, a propane powered refrigerator instead of electric), by and large, they are living well with solar power.
On another note, the problem with solar is that the solar cells still aren't very efficient, so you really need a lot of them. In the past there were always supply and demand issues, making the cost to manufacture higher, but I'm not sure if this still is the case.
I buy solar panels a lot for work that I do and the general rule of thumb is that if you pay more than $5 per watt, you are paying too much. Think about how many watts you would need to run a household full of electronic powered equipment, and yes, you are talking about a lot of money.. Furthermore, there is the added complication that all of our stuff runs off of AC and not DC, therefore providing another point of inefficiency and expense.
So- there is a pretty substantial initial investment in switching over to solar, but in the long term, it more than pays for itself.
-
Permalink Reply by Brendan on
-
Remember, we're on Duke City Fix, so it's probably safe to assume we're talking about grid-tie systems. That means you can use more power than your solar arrays are providing by drawing some from PNM. Later when you're using less than you generate, that power is going back into the grid. You don't need a system that covers peak usage, just one whose average production covers your average use (or better).
You're definitely able to get a long term return on investment, but it's not the return you get from investing money in stocks and bonds. It's something that pays itself off after several years, then keeps on paying for itself. It might also be nice when there's a blackout for your house to be unaffected.
-
Permalink Reply by jim on -
There are promising new technologies being developed that will use sun, water and CO2 to create bio fuels. http://www.newsweek.com/id/140066
These new fuels will work even in existing internal combustion engines. Don't be to quick to dump your v8's for a dinkmobile!
-
Permalink Reply by Pat OConnell on
-
A caution: it takes energy to modify CO2 to make another fuel. Putting my long disused chemical engineer hard hat on, I have to ask where that energy comes from (just the sun? What happens on cloudy days, in winter, or at night?), and whether the guy has forgotten to do his energy balances when he proposed this new process. Not saying he's wrong, I'm just skeptical.
Groups
-
BarterABQ
18 members
-
New Mexico Photographers
59 members
-
New York City Expats
32 members
-
Book Club
198 members
-
Chow Down in Burque Town
399 members
-
Purls of wisdom
31 members
© 2008 Created by chantal
